When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade...or so the saying goes. And that’s exactly what we did for this year’s Widen Summit. While we all would have loved to meet in person, we needed a different game plan during a global pandemic. So we moved the event to a virtual platform, and are thrilled that it allowed us to share the Summit experience with more people than ever. Over 500 registrants to be exact! And here’s everything you need to know about this year’s event. 

It’s great when hard work, a commitment to excellence, and a passion for people all pay off. Especially when you’re having fun doing it! As we look back over the past year, we can see all the ways that our company, our customers, and the Widen Collective^Ⓡ community have grown. What an exceptional year we had in 2019!

Building trust is tricky. And as the saying goes, trust is hard to earn but easy to lose. So what does that have to do with digital asset management (DAM)? A lot!

Each year, the Widen Summit focuses on concepts that are key to DAM success. 

In 2017, we honed in on what it takes to set better goals. Expanding on that in 2018, we learned how to tackle those goals using a strong strategy framework. This year though, we took a step back to realize that in order for people to believe in your goals and strategy, you need to first earn their trust. And this theme carried throughout our three days together — taking center stage in workshops, sessions, and keynotes. 

Peer-driven awards program recognizes Widen for its impressive growth, thriving culture, and dedication to community

We’re proud to announce Widen received the 2019 SIIA CODiE Award for Company of the Year. According to SIIA, the award goes to a company that “has realized significant growth in revenue, proven to have a strong company culture, and demonstrated a commitment to the community.”

We’re delighted to announce Widen has been named a WorldBlu Freedom-Centered Culture™ for the fifth consecutive year. WorldBlu, a global community of organizations devoted to freedom at work, awards this honor to organizations that have built workplace cultures on principles of organizational democracy.

We’re proud to announce that Widen won “Best Digital Asset Management Platform (DAM)” at the Marketing Technology Awards 2019 hosted by ClickZ and Search Engine Watch. The award reflects the consensus of customers and expert judges whose scores placed Widen at the top of the DAM pack.

We’re thrilled to announce CEO Matthew Gonnering has been named the overall 2019 Executive of the Year by In Business magazine. Now in its sixth year, the awards program celebrates exemplary business executives based on leadership, innovation, and company success. Gonnering and the other winners will be honored at an awards reception on February 19, 2019 at the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison.

We spent a lot of quality time together in 2018 between Widen events, customer success conversations, UX field research, and more. All of these interactions gave us a lot of great insights into how we can continue to improve our products and services this year. So, if you like what we did in 2018, you’re going to love what we have in store for 2019!

Here’s a rundown of the things we’ll do, the places we’ll go, and the experiences we’ll create together this year.

2018 was a phenomenal year of growth for Widen and our Collective community! We celebrated 70 years of business and are ready for the next 70 as we work to become the most admired company in the world. We welcomed over 40 new Wideneers to the family between our North American headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin; and European headquarters in London. Our teams are proud to serve hundreds of the world’s most influential brands and a global community of 500,000 marketers, designers, salespeople, and technologists.

Empathy is an essential ability in our workplace. It helps our teams work better together, design better experiences for our customers, and give our work meaning.